Zetsuen no Tempest – 10

「タイムマシンのつくり方」 (Taimu Mashin no Tsukuruikata)
“How to Make a Time Machine”

I don’t know about you, but I think this is the episode that pretty much throws Zetsuen no Tempest into the ring as one of the better series of the entire year. There are just few series that can pull off plot twists left and right without making it seem like total malarchy or resorting to Deus Ex Machinas, but Zetsuen manages to do all of this and then some. And in a time where many series fail because of their inability to reach their full potential, this series not only proves that it can be done, but also demonstrates to us the amazing results that happen when you do. Because in the end, that’s the key to Zetsuen’s and its ability to constantly exceed expectations, which is that it exploits every element of the world it has established over the previous nine episodes. No revelations are left hanging, no questions (and no possibility) left unanswered. Everything that has happened until now has a reason, every discussion loaded with extra meaning—there’s just nothing wasted with this series for the most part, and it’s just damn amazing.

But that’s enough about that for now, as it’s time to actually move on to the developments of this episode. Reader beware, because it’s gonna be a wild series of explanations.

First off, we get the reveal of Yoshino’s theory, which pretty much amounts to the following:

The Tree of Genesis grants Hakaze full protection because it preserves logic. Because Tree of Genesis has not fully revived, it’s preservation is flawed, leading to the Tree of Zetsuen getting to this point and Hakaze being at a disadvantage. However, this doesn’t mean she has lost. Goes back to things we’ve mentioned this before, the fact of the matter is that Mahiro picking up that doll and both him and Yoshino helping Hakaze is too much to be a simple coincidence. Combining this with the fact that Samon seems to have known that these two were talking to Hakaze from the start, as well as the fact he seemed to have expected their arrival, thus means that he knew this situation would occur and that he would need a counter measure. This then confirms that his victory has not been confirmed and that there’s still a way to bring back Hakaze.

And to say the least, it makes a heck of a lot of sense. Granted, much of what he said was already mentioned previously, but it doesn’t change the fact that the theory’s pretty much air tight for the most part. Either way, the result is that Mahiro’s slowly starting to see where Yoshino’s coming from, and Samon’s plan slowly begins to unravel…

…which brings us to the ultimate reveal that the entire point of his theory wasn’t necessarily to provide a concrete reason for everything, but rather intended as a ploy to make Samon panic, and thus reveal that there is indeed a way to bring Hakaze back. And to this end (as Samon attests with his many hilariousreactions), Yoshino succeeds beyond his wildest imagination. Granted, some of his theory ended up being incorrect involving the time prison itself (actually real rather than an illusion), but wow. That was a darn ingenious plot from Samon to say the least, because if he manages to trick Hakaze into believing that all was lost, then all logic would thus make it so that there was no way for Hakaze to win. But in the end, it just emphasizes how ridiculous Yoshino was to be able to turn everything around the way it did, as well as how he is indeed the ultimate wild card in this equation. In turn, this brings us to our current scenario…

…which is that it’s up to Hakaze and Yoshino to think up exactly how Samon was able to construct the time prison (and how to bring her back from it) before Samon find the identity of Aika’s killer. Suffice to say, time’s ticking as a result, and it’s gonna be damn interesting how this works out. Considering how the next episode’s preview seems to be demonstrating that the killer is closer than ever expected (perhaps Hakaze herself or Junichirou?)… well, let’s just say that the twists look like they’ll keep coming, and I’m darn eager to see what it is. Zetsuen just keeps showing itself to be beyond predictable where it counts and I just keep feeling better every week that Mochi and I decided to pick up coverage of this series. Guess we’ll see how things work out eh?

Author’s Note: Sadly, finals are coming shortly, and there is a slight chance of no coverage for Zetsuen next week. It seems highly likely that BakaMochi will be able to return and step in for the post next week though, so all hope is not lost! The Tree of Genesis’ logic is still in effect after all! (Okay. I admit. That was a bad joke).

Actually if you pay attention to what Mahiro said this episode, even Yoshino didn’t actually believe the theory he tossed out there, at least where the cage of time being fake was concerned. It was just something that served his purposes adequately which was to rattle Samon, get Mahiro back mostly on his side, and to shake Hakaze out of her despair.

I don’t think I’d ever want to play poker or other similar games with Yoshino.

Samon is actually growing on me as a villain. Too often I see antagonists that are totally composed in every situation until their downfall, and its nice to see an antagonist who panics easily under pressure. I applaud Samon for defying the norm. FIGHT THE POWER!

Well he isn’t actually the antagonist, he’s just some follower who thought of a good idea that doesn’t sit well with hakaze because she doesn’t know something that the rest of the clan fears, so they went out of their way to bring remove her temporarily.

He’s an antagonist, but I wouldn’t really call him a villain. He said his goal is to stop the world from ending and he seems genuine about it. He and Hakaze just appear to disagree on which Tree will bring about the end.

samon’s overly dramatic reactions ruined this episode for me. to those guys with the barrel theory, now that it’s been confirmed that it’s the same one, i really wish yoshino should have just asked hakaze to destroy it.

Haha, damn, I love this show. It has definitely grown into one of my favourites this season. All the mindgames constantly played by the characters are glorious and kudos for the show to keep it all interesting and suspenseful when all the characters have been doing for the last three episodes is stand on the same spot and talk. Watching Samon break down like that was glorious, hahahaha.

It seems that Samon,the pretended smart-guy,got tricked by some so-called “common peolpe”.
I thought Samon of someone who don’t break easily under “ANY BAD” circomstances that don’t match his prevision,but after seeing that…what a disappointment.

Now all of you know why I like Yoshino so much. Samon played right into his hand. It’s as if Yoshino thought all this through from the very beginning (And by very beginning I mean when Mahiro returned) Yoshino has only known about magic for a short period of time, yet he nearly made Samon have a stroke with his theory, and even the after effect of his theory.

See? You don’t have to be a complete renegade of action like most action anime characters to be a beast. Yoshino is a prime example. He has the calmness in mind only a person like me could want!

LOL @ Samon. He may be too emotional to be a omnipotent mastermind, but as far as this episode goes he clearly stole the show from the boys :)

The characters like Junichirou, the spear-wielding mage and the ops girl are still a mystery though, I didn’t quite see the meaning of their being there at all, other than providing a distraction, or a counterpoint of sorts.

Oh, and it was strange they mentioned that bringing Hakaze back would create a time paradox and thus would be against logic, and then they did just that with the word and the barrel, that is changed the past and the future “updated itself”.

That is also possible, but given they made it a point that she should write a word and then the same word should appear on the barrel, I assume the word was not there before. If it were there, Yoshino could possibly see it and ask for another word instead. Repeat as many times as necessary, until the whole surface of the barrel is covered, that is the power of mathematical induction :-p

my beloved barrel! I knew it did have a purpose :)
and as I was saying the last week, the analogy with the movie “Frequency” is going on: there is an almost same scene in the movie, when someone scratched a few words on a wooden table in the past, and it appeared in “real-time” in the future.
The analogy may very well end here, as in the movie the son knew how the father died and could tell him, but Yoshino doesn’t know when and why Hakaze died to prevent it.

BTW, truly an amazing show. I usually favour seinen shows over shounen (expecially action shounen) ones, but damn I’m glad I picked this up … outstanding characters and uber solid, interesting story with misteries, twists, romance and action perfectly integrated with each other, nothing feels forced or out of place. It was a very long time since I could say that about an action anime.

mind… blown!
I am repeating it again, definitely a sleeper series of the season!
In the end there is one person who even now knows how to do the time machine trick and bring back Hakaze – Samon, of course! do you really think he didnt have a contingency plan in case Hakaze was right baout the two trees?

This is just speculation not a spoiler, I haven’t read ahead in the manga and have only watched the anime through this episode.

I reckon Samon actually shows Yoshino how to free Hakaze from her prison in this episode. What we know is that when Yoshino, in the present, tells Hakaze, in the past, to modify the barrel, the present version of the barrel changes to reflect the request. Thus information — the name to inscribe — that Yoshino sends back in time causes the future to be modified. Present versions of objects can be thereby be changed. And since Hakaze’s bones are also present, it would seem they could also be changed by sending information back, e.g. information about how she could save her own life.

For instance, imagine that Samon had previously dosed Hakaze with some slow-acting poison that will kill her sometime in her future but everyone else’s past. Or that, in order to survive, she is eating something mildly toxic that will kill her unless she stops. If Samon were to simply tell her about an antidote he had hidden (in the first case) or to stop eating whatever is killing her (in the second case) Hakaze’s bones would immediately update themselves to the changed past — becoming Hakaze herself.

The question is, if the present updates itself to the change in the past, can _the intervening years_ also update themselves? And is the effect on the past quarantined to the island to prevent paradoxes? Since Aika’s murder occurs between Hakaze’s time and the present time, one wonders whether a warning could be passed to her, producing all sorts of wacky SF time contradictions…

I wouldn’t be surprised if something like that will happen. I didn’t think about that before, Yoshino and friends don’t know how to prevent Hakaze’s death but Samon may very well know how Hakaze died, he may have set it up to happen in a way that could be prevented with the correct info. We will see, it’s getting more and more interesting :)

Also, I sense there is a chance they will bring back Aika too, she had so much screen time that it’s very possible they won’t let stay dead. But if I was the writer, I would bring Aika back after giving some time to Hakaze and Yoshino to form some bond, thus creating a though love situation for him. Yoshino, let’s see how you would solve this one, ah ? (that was just my delusion going wild, ignore it lol)